3/36 I might be onto something good

I did 13 minutes of yoga when I got home last night and slept until 4:30 this morning.  Well, I was awake before then, but I held off on checking the clock until 4:30 which means that I slept past 3:00 which has been rare lately.  Could just that much yoga combined with the walk and a third day of clean eating made such a difference?  I want to say yes!

I did make it home last night without stopping for ice cream nor did I eat anything for the remainder of the evening.

I did have toast with pb, a banana and a mango around 5:00.  I did my meditation, 20 minutes of yoga, had the green-drink-of-the-week and then went to my Tuesday morning water aerobics class.  I  arrived in the office at10:30.  Given I will be here until 8:30 tonight, I feel great about arriving at 10:30.

The down side of the day is that when I walked in the kitchen, Doña Lupita was fixing lunch for the students as she is usually doing at that time.  Ham slices plus this ball of rice and cheese that she then rolled in bread crumbs and deep-fat fired.  I inhaled TWO of the balls in about 3 seconds and have been vomiting ever since. 

Luckily, I paid a price for such an automatic and uncontrolled reaction.  I have also felt lethargic and have had a hard time concentrating.  Being aware of what I did, however, has made a difference.  In spite of simply wanting to lie down on the floor, I am pushing myself to get through my things to do list.  I am drinking lots of water.  I am heading out for a walk in a few minutes to get some sun and fresh air. 

My plan for Thursday when I have water aerobics again?  Have something ready to eat in the car when I leave the gym, before I arrive at the Central House so that I don't arrive "starving" and thus susceptible to whatever may be close at hand.  What more can I do?

2/36 Living clean

 

Shades of AA...just admitting my life has become unmanageable was a huge relief.  It is 6:30, and I am about to leave my office to walk with a friend.  I meditated this morning upon awakening.  I took a break every hour to get away from my desk.  I was productive in working through my list.

Food intake has been positive.  I feel almost certain I can make it home without stopping for my usual liter of chocolate ice cream.  In detail:
Insomnia-induced breakfast at 2:15:  toast, pb and tangerines
Breakfast:  famous green drink with cucumbers and celery
Lunch:  gluten free pasta with broccoli and carrots, olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Snack:  Cup of broth made last night from a recipe I found in a magazine, beans, baked tostada shell, pico de gallo

My real goal is to do some yoga when I get home.  I could be happy with 10 minutes.

36 days of living clean

This has been a difficult semester.  All of the good feelings and high energy of post-vacation December disappeared far too quickly in January with two back-to-back specialized programs followed immediately by the arrival of 22 students and a visiting biology professor.  The majority of the students are sophomores with no experience outside of their own small world of rural Iowa.  They need lots of hand-holding, patience and encouragement to do even the most simple tasks.  As a result, I have been putting in what seems like a million hours a week with very little to show for it.  I have been on a roller coaster of eating well/eating poorly, exercising/not exercising, meditating/not meditating, oversleeping/insomnia. 

I spent a week  in North Carolina (Feb 17-23) during which I did some marketing/recruiting and participated in a conference where I presented an academic paper...two more stressful tasks.  The "highlights" included some serious southern-style eating....biscuits, grits, fried chicken, more biscuits, more grits, more fried chicken.  While fun, I did not return feeling good nor did I have any energy. 

Since my return, the roller coaster has been a little less scary but still there.  I have been swimming and walking regularly, but my food history has been horrendous and yoga and meditation efforts have been dismal.  I want to/have to make some changes.  Besides being able to deal with students, I am facing another trip to the US April 7-19 that will include four full days of recruiting/marketing beginning in Rochester, New York of all places and ending in Davenport, Iowa.  In between there will be travel days and a series of meetings in Pella where lots of changes that will affect study abroad programs and directors are in the works.  Personal time will be extremely limited.

To make a long story even longer, I decided yesterday that I have to feel as good as I can today and everyday in order to just keep up with daily responsibilities.  I have 36 days in which to eat well, swim and/or walk daily, complete 30 minutes of yoga and 13 -15 minutes of meditation daily and just generally take care of myself.  I spent yesterday planning meals, grocery shopping, fixing food for the week ahead.  My goal is to report daily here. 

Saturday:  Water aerobics - 1 hour
                  Meditation - 13 minutes
                  Yoga - 0
                  Food:  Chilaquiles at Central House, green drink of cucumber, celery and lemon, beans, 2 eggs, pico de gallo, toast with pb and mango, chicken

As of 2:00 Sunday:  Laps - 1 hour
                                Meditation - 13 minutes
                                Toast with pb and mango, same green drink as above, chicken

Any and all suggestions, words of wisdom and support are welcome.

Christmas in Paris

Dublin, London, Paris

My conference in Dublin followed by vacation time in London and Paris could not have been better. The conference and spending time with my fellow directors generated new ideas. 

Dorothy and I rendezvoused in London where we went to four theatre presentations in different venues.  We also went to several museums and a wonderful Advent service at St. Martin in the Fields.  We ate a cool museum cafes several times and loved the central location of our modest bed & breakfast.  

When in Paris, we went to a concert of Gregorian chants at Notre Dame one evening, and to a special Impressionist exhibit at the Museo Orsay another evening.  We witnessed a march of an estimated 100,000 Parisians in favor of gay marriage and adoption.   We learned how much we prefer small museums such as the Museum of Jewish History with its special exhibit on the Jews of Algeria.  We patronized chocolate shops, little tucked away bread shops, Christmas markets featuring roasted chestnuts and beribboned lavender sachets.  We were thrilled with our apartment in Paris; it was a joy to come home to at the end of the day.  My clothes were perfect for the weather and for our activities.  I never, ever found myself wishing I brought this instead of that or that I had packed too much or too little.

We walked and walked and walked.  We watched people.  We relaxed.  We soaked in as much culture as these great cities had to offer in the short time we were there.

Dorothy, who reads absolutely everything, was a stimulating travel partner.  I came home with a long list of names, events and places that I needed to google to fill in the many gaps in my education.  Our interests and energy levels matched which made decision-making so much easier.  I am ready to go again...any time, any where.

Dublin - London - Paris in December

I have a winter travel clothes formula that works for me.  I stopped counting the number of outfits I would have from these nine items of clothing plus 3 scarves and two types of footwear at 160.  If I would have mixed and matched jewelry, I don't know where I would have ended.   I could easily eliminate an item or two, but everything fits in my carry-on, and, more importantly, I don't want to.  I will be away for 20 days.  I think I will be fine.

NSV

An impulse buy at Costco last weekend led to an amazing non-scale victory as they say in Weight Watcherland.  For some unfathomable reason, real winter clothes arrived at the local Costco last week.  Yes, coats, sweaters, hats, scarves, long underwear.  Given that temperatures here rarely drop below 70, I can't help but think a shipment bound for Duluth was misdirected.  A grey cable pullover sweater caught my eye as I wandered through the tables.  I decided I would buy one to use as a scale as a part of my never-ending quest to lose weight.  I chose an extra large misses size thinking that maybe, just maybe, I would be able to wear up in Europe in December.  Imagine my surprise when I find the sweater fit that very afternoon when I pulled it on as soon as I arrived home.  Now most people shudder at the thought of wearing an XL.  For me, it has been a long time since there was only one "X" in front of that "L."  A NSV.

I can't show any more of me because the other thing that happened was the well-fitting sweater revealed my need for new bras....always an unpleasant experience no matter what one's size.